-URGENT
BULLETIN-

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Beginning with our next issue, the July-August
newsletter will only be sent to current (paid and up-to-date)
membership as well as newly returned RPCV’s.

All
current members and newly returned RPCV’s
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Until
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hope to hear quickly from everyone of you out
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This change is made to save printing and mailing
expenses giving more for issuing grants and even
help the environment (save trees).

To
receive your next issue,
you must tell us
which FORMAT you choose.

......Peace
Corps Encore!

Thanks so much for asking us to clarify Peace Corps
Encore! for the NPCA group leaders. Above all, Peace
Corps Encore! is a labor of love. As you know, Jerr Boschee,
with whom I served in India from 1968-70, and I started
PCE! in 2003 and launched it at the National Peace Corps
Association biennial meeting in Chicago in August, 2004.

We are an
independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization which
supports the goals of the Peace Corps. Unlike Crisis
Corps, which posts volunteers in emergency and disaster
relief situations, our focus is on returning RPCV’s
and former staff to short-term (typically, three weeks
to three months) service in projects most suited to their
professional expertise, especially in the areas of capacity
building, such as teacher training and small business
development.

From our inception,
we have kept Gaddi Vasquez and his top staff informed
of our progress. Like the Peace Corps, our goal in
the developing world is to have a measurable, positive
impact on peoples’ lives; at home, it
is to bridge the gap of cultural understanding between
us and the countries in which our volunteers may be privileged
to serve.

Kudos to
North County RPCVs!

by Lynn Jarrett

About six
months ago Cindy Ballard, Annie Aguilar and Patsy Loughboro
met with Brenda Terry-Hahn, our Membership Chair, and
created a plan to contact all SDPCA members in the
North County satellite areas to get an update on mailing
and Email addresses plus phone numbers for our database
records.

We owe a big thanks to Annie and Patsy for taking the
time to send individual letters to those members in their
areas of responsibility in North County and then getting
the information back to me so we can be more up to date
with our records.

Beth & Paul
Skorochod, PCV’s from San Diego in Swaziland
are working with this program and keeping us informed
of their progress. Here are more details about the
program they spoke of last month. Keep your letters coming!--Ed.

Mbabane, Swaziland, February 2, 2006 --
Swaziland’s
National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA)
today announced the inauguration of Young Heroes, a program
through which Americans can sponsor orphan families with
monthly donations for food and clothing.

With 42.6%
of adults (age 15-49) infected, Swaziland has the highest
rate of HIV in the world. UNICEF estimates that some
70,000 children in the country’s population
of one million have already lost at least one parent
to the disease, and that nearly 15,000 now live in child-headed
households. Orphans who have caretakers usually live
with a grandparent or other elderly relatives who are
often past of the age of being able to work.

Speaking in
the capital city of Mbabane, NERCHA Director Dr. Derek
von Wissell said, “Our greatest desire
is to encourage young people with advantages to help
their peers who have little or nothing. AIDS is creating
a generation of orphans in Swaziland, and they are in
desperate need of the most basic fundamentals of survival.

“We welcome everyone as sponsors, including adults.
But our primary goal is to motivate youth as individuals
and in groups such as classes, schools, church groups,
Scout troops and sports teams to become involved
in the fight against the devastation caused by HIV/AIDS. “

NERCHA Underwrites Cost of Program

All Swazi orphans under the age of 18 who have lost
both parents are eligible to enroll in Young Heroes.

Enrolment and sponsorship are done on a family basis.
Unlike similar programs, sponsors help support all the
orphan children in a family, not just one individual.
A crucial goal of Young Heroes is to keep families together
on their homesteads and in their communities, where they
have the most security and are surrounded by a familiar
support system. In instances where there is more than
one orphan, family sponsorship avoids the inequality
of offering assistance to one child but not his or her
siblings.

Importantly,
NERCHA is underwriting virtually
all operating costs of the Young Heroes program, so that
donations go directly to the intended recipients. However,
bank transaction fees, such as wiring and foreign exchange,
are not paid for by NERCHA. Because of this, sponsors
are asked to contribute an additional 95 cents (US$0.95)
to cover these costs. No other donations whatsoever go
to any administrative overhead.

Peace Corps Steps In to HelpAt
NERCHA’s request, two Peace Corps volunteers
from the United States worked with the organization to
create Young Heroes: Justin Garland of Littleton, CO
and Steve Kallaugher of New York City and Northampton,
MA. Having completed his two years of Peace Corps’ service,
Mr. Garland has returned to his home in the United States.
Mr. Kallaugher, a former executive with The Wall Street
Journal, has joined NERCHA to become Young Heroes’ project
supervisor.

To manage
the growth of the program most effectively, at launch
Young Heroes has enrolled some 125 families with 300
children in 11 communities. New families in need of
sponsorship are being added constantly by the program’s
two full-time employees, with the assistance of Peace
Corps volunteers and their Swazi colleagues throughout
the country. These volunteers identify orphan families
in their communities, enrol them in the program and
will assist in monitoring the families who receive
donations.

How Young Heroes WorksVisitors to the Young Heroes Web site at http://youngheroes.org.sz
will find full information, including photos of the orphan
families seeking assistance.

Sponsors can choose a family or give where the need
is greatest, in which case a family will be assigned
to them. While one-time donations are gratefully welcomed,
sponsors are requested to make a minimum commitment of
one year so families can rely on a steady source of basic
necessities.

Basic sponsorship
costs $19.95 per month per child for food ($239.40
per year, including transaction fees) and $29.95 per
month per child for food and clothing ($359.00 per
year). Plans are in development to enable sponsors
to also assist with school fees for the 2007 school
year. In cases where there are many children left orphaned
in one family – some families have as many as 10 – multiple
sponsors will be sought.

Young Heroes
Foundation has been established as a 501(c)(3) corporation
in the United States, in order to ensure both transparency
and compliance with U.S. law. Donations may be made
to Young Heroes over the Internet via PayPal, or electronically
or by mail to its bank account at Wachovia Bank in
New Haven, CT. From there, funds are wired directly
into the Young Heroes account at First National Bank
in Mbabane, Swaziland. Once a month, all collected funds,
together with distribution instructions, are wired to
Swazi Post and Telecommunications Corporation (SPTC).
The post office creates a money order for each family
that has received donations and sends it to the post
office nearest the family. The family caretaker – usually
an older relative, trusted neighbor or eldest child – presents
a photo I.D. card and is given the full amount received.
Signed receipts for the distribution of the donations
are returned to NERCHA for verification.

In this way, Young Heroes insures both the lowest cost
of operation and the most efficient connection direct
from sponsors to the families they support.

Bogani's Story

I
am eleven years old. I am a boy. There aren’t
any adults around where I live. My grandmother who was
looking after us died. In our homestead there is me and
my cousin Nondumiso. She is three years old.

I
get along well with my cousin. The problem comes when
she gets sick. I worry where to get the money from
to take her to the clinic. She normally gets the flu.
I think my cousin will have to go to the neighbour’s
place. Then I will be alone.

I
don’t go to school now. I went to school up
to grade three. Then there was no money. I don’t
read and write very well. I can count. I think it is
important that I finish school. I remember the English
books at school. And the siSwati books. And social studies.
I liked social studies. When I grow up, I want to be
a nurse.

I
am afraid that people are going to steal things from
our house. We don’t have a lock on the door. The
door is just planks. It’s scary living all alone.
I worry about criminals. The house is falling apart.
People might even be mean, and destroy it. It would be
easy. They just push at the walls, and they would fall
down.

The
rain comes in. It needs more thatch. I can’t
do that myself. The wind comes in. I try to put mud on
the cracks, but when it rains the mud just falls off
again.

My
cousin and I get food from that car. (Editor’s
Note: A World Food Programme vehicle). They started last
week. We’ve been asking food from the neighbours.
Now we get cooking oil, and beans, and yellow powder
(Editor’s Note: A corn-soya nutritional blend.)

We
need soap, and matches. We need candles for the night.
We give the neighbours our beans, and they give us
soap. We don’t have clothes. We don’t have
blankets. We sleep on the ground, on grass mats. We
cover ourselves any way we can.

For water, we go to the river. It is far. It takes 30
minutes to go there, and 30 minutes to go back. We have
a wheelbarrow. I use it to fetch water. I am worried
the wheelbarrow will be stolen. At night, I put it in
the room with us when we sleep.

About Nercha

Established
by Swaziland’s government in 2001,
NERCHA is the country’s National Emergency Response
Council on HIV/AIDS. Its mandate is to coordinate the
government’s battle against the epidemic. NERCHA’s
core objectives focus on three areas: prevention; impact
mitigation, including the care of orphans and vulnerable
children (OVCs); and care and support for those infected.

Acting as
the conduit for monies received from the U.N. Global
Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, NERCHA
works with organizational and community partners
across all sectors to ensure that comprehensive services
are delivered to the grass-roots level all throughout
the nation.

By providing
this leadership, NERCHA coordinates, facilitates and
motivates the fight against HIV/AIDS all throughout
Swaziland. It is a central resource for ideas, assistance
and funds that confront the nation’s growing problems
caused by this deadly disease.

Put the Fun in Fund Raising

Whether you’re
a school class or a church group, a civic organization
or a group of friends, here are some of the ways in
which you could raise money to become a Young Heroes
sponsor.

Dress
down day

Costume
day

Tag
sale

Town
litter clean-up

Book
sale

Bake
sale

Car
wash

Auction
for dates

Auction
of art work or other crafts or goods

Raffle – get
local merchants to donate goods

Collect
recyclable cans and bottles

Sports
Tournament

Walkathon

Jogathon

Cross-cultural
dinners

Put
on a dance

Show
a movie night with a special theme

Put
on a talent show

Have
a teach-in about AIDS

Put
on a World AIDS Day program

Emily
Frant is a volunter from San Diego in service in
Niger.So
Much To Say

There
is so much to say about my experience here. When
I was in Niamey we had access to email so I could keep
everyone up to date with my goings on, but here, it’s
different. I passed my 28th birthday right
in the middle of my 8/9th month in Niger. I
had spent the 2 weeks before the 24th in Niamey. The
new PCV’s - now making my stage, the new old PCV’s
- were sworn in on St. Patty’s day. Before I left
for Niamey, my schedule in the village - which was once
fairly routine - had become a bit choppy. I use to go
to the clinic everyday, rest in the afternoon and then
weave in and out of concessions in the village to meet
as many people as possible.

My time changed
because I had been spending less time at the clinic
for a couple of reasons. 1. The clinic is already well
established and runs smoothly on its own - people know
about it and if they so choose, they can go to get
help - it’s a good place to learn,
but not where I should spend all my time. 2. I have a
tendency to be comfortable with people right of the bat,
can talk to anyone, whenever, wherever... but then, after
a while I get uneasy, so I pull away.... this tendency,
plus feeling overwhelmed, and ridiculously slow at learning
Hausa (I felt more like a burden, a child that can’t
do ANYTHING for themself) I stopped going around the
clinic. My awkward feeling has gone away, so now I’m
back to the clinic a few days a week AND my Hausa is
much improved... not really good, but better!!! I also
started going up to Mayahi for our Monday radio show!

At first I
hated going up to Mayahi. Mayahi is
an hour bush taxi ride north of Djan Toudou, directly
on the bumpy, dusty, dirt road.... hated, still do, the
bush taxi rides. But I’ve overcome that fear too
and really enjoy going up to do the radio show. Along
with other volunteers we do a half hour radio show every
Monday. Some of the subjects we speak about are - farming,
AIDS, breast feeding, family planning, girls education,
gardening, improved cook stoves. We actually just
started promoting a song writing contest on AIDS! We
have asked people - anyone - to write a song about AIDS,
mentioning ways to protect yourself, ways you can contract
the disease and the stigma that comes along with having
the disease. The deadline is today and the judging will
be held on the 8th of April. We are all really excited
about the competition - there haven’t been that
many entries so far, but we’re keeping our fingers
crossed.

There aren’t many ways to advertise for things
in the country and most people can’t read. We thought
about making fliers for the contest, but it would fall
under blind eyes. They learn to read in French
and can’t transfer the skill over to Hausa. I guess
that is one of the things that I’m learning. We
try to do something, help someone, educate people, do
something productive but there are so many walls we come
up against. For example with the radio show we reach
over 92,000 people (so they say) but those are mostly
people in Mayahi. The people that have enough money
to buy a radio. We want to educate both men and
women, but women hardly ever listen to the radio.

Men and women
don’t really sit down and talk about
their day or about news outside of their little village
world. We want people to get involved in the contest,
but most people can’t write down their words, or
even if they memorized them, they don’t have any
means to record their song. Unfortunately, only
the people who have money and a tape recorder can - again,
keeping us away from the people we want to reach most.

Myself and
Ma’aouya (my Hausa tutor/teacher in
Gidan Bouguari) are planning to start an “after
school” program with a handful of girls in both
of our villages - working w/ them on self esteem, decision
making, talking about health issues. The problem
here lies with girls responsibilities after they finish
school. Most girls are responsible for preparing
dinner, pulling water, getting kindling for the fire,
washing clothes, washing younger siblings, etc. Plus,
there are many men who don’t feel an education
for their daughter is a priority because they will be
married before they turn 15.

We want to
talk the girls about making smart choices for themselves,
but in this culture the girls choices are very limited.
Most girls still can’t choose
their husband. And once they are married, school
is out of the picture, and village life takes over. There
aren’t many choices to make in the village, your
day is always the same. Things only change depending
on the season. Hot season is too hot to do anything,
so you lay around the house and move only to pull water
and make food. Rainy season is the time to plant your
crops so you spend most of the day in the fields. Cold
season is the laziest time for people. They pull
water and repair their huts. Cold season is also wedding
season in Niger! (9 months later is baby season in Niger!) –Cheers,
Emily

Kirsten
Unfried is a San Diego PCV in Gambia. Mango Season Begins

[Segments
from Email of April 9, 2006]

I’m back in Banjul, the capitol, for the week.
Training is almost over we have some final meetings/excursions
this week, and will be sworn in as official volunteers
on Thursday. Then head back to our sites on Sunday.

My permanent
site is a long ways from here - in the eastern part
of the country. Mileage-wise, it’s
really not that far - somewhere around 350km...multiply
that by about 0.62 and you get about 210 miles...meaning
what? About 3-4 hours on a well-maintained American roads?
Well, um, it took me 17 hours to travel that distance
yesterday...left before the sun came up and got in a
half an hour short of midnight. On a good day,
if everything goes right, the trip would take about 10
hours, but we were stuck with a driver who could have
possibly won the “slowest geli driver EVER” award.
(gelis are what the local transports are called in these
parts. Not buses, but larger than minivans, and
usually in disrepair.)

I just got
in from my permanent site, which is way out East -
past Basse on the south bank of the river if you’re
looking at a map. We each traveled from our training
village to our permanent site with a language teacher
on Tuesday to check out our town, meet our host family
(almost all volunteers live in a local family compound),
and negotiate rent/food/laundry prices. My house is brand
new...a nice-sized one bedroom mud hut with a thatch
roof...the cement pit latrine and shower area is out
back in my fenced-in backyard, which is big enough to
sleep in when it’s too hot inside and maybe even
set up a garden in. No frills. Hopefully not too many
little critters find their way in. The rainy season
is coming in about 2.5 month’s time, and that’s
when things start getting exciting - scorpions, snakes,
ants. It is hot right now in the eastern
part of the country, I can’t wait for the rains
to come.

My village
has about 1000 people in it, split up into about 46
compounds. It will take a while to get to know everyone. My name here is Kadi (short for Kadijatou)
Sanno. (Sanno is the name of the family I am staying
with. The “Gambian” names are good
because no one here can say Kirsten - sometimes if they
concentrate really hard and put forth a considerable
amount of effort, they can get it out, but the “IR” part
followed by the “S” is something that they
can’t do.

The language
is coming along slowly. I can get
basics across to people and can understand people if
they speak ridiculously slowly and keep the topics simple.
It’s kinda fun - the language thing. It was a little
frustrating, though, running into the local Cuban doctor
a couple days ago and not remembering how to even say “My
name is...” in Spanish - I mean I was in Ecuador
for 2 months last winter all I could think of was Mandinka,
but that’s what I get for not using it at all.

I’m going to see about investing in a solar panel
and setting up a light in my house which will be a novelty
after the sun goes down. It is all kerosene lamps,
camps, and flashlights which run on really, really bad
C batteries. My days include fetching water from the
pump, sweeping my house with a non-ergonomically-built
broom, taking a bucket bath, doing my laundry by hand
in a tub, eating rice and oil (LOTS of rice and oil you’d
have no problem carb-loading here) out of the food bowl
with my family - utensils are optional, and greeting
people, lots of people, and chatting. People like
to chat, sit around and chat.

Laura
Alesso is a San Diego PCV in Nicaragua. Hello from Nicaragua

Well,
on a more serious note, I am officially a volunteer now!!
We had our swearing in ceremony today, and we leave tommorow
for our sites! I´m really excited, but nervous
too. Its crazy how fast the time has gone by already.
The ceremony was really nice, at the Casa Grande in the
capital of Managua. The U.S. ambassador was there, all
of the Peace Corps Nicaragua staff, our teachers, families,
and the director of Peace Corps worldwide, Gaddi Vasquez.
It was quite an honor, because he has not been to a swearing
in ceremony in Nicaragua, and we also had the privileged
of meeting him at our staging in DC.

So I finished
training at the advanced low level of Spanish, which
surprised me, but I´m really happy about it because I do
not have to go back in a few months for the language
workshop. It is going to be quite different when we get
to our sites because we will not have Spanish class or
technical training class to go to. We will have
to make up our own schedule. I will be working
in two health centers, the schools, Casa de la Mujer
(a place for women to go to receive classes such as nutrition,
exercise, etc.), and whatever else I can do to keep myself
busy. There will be a lot less structure than there was
during training which I am nervous about, I think these
first few months will be the toughest getting settled
in and being far from all the other volunteers.

The closest
health volunteer to me is about 2 hours away by bus
and boat on an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.
There is another business volunteer about 15 minutes
from me, but she is finishing her service and leaving
in July. The good thing about being far from the other
volunteers is that my Spanish can only get better because
I will not be able to speak English with the other
volunteers. This week we have all been together speaking
English so it will be interesting when I get to my
site tomorrow and have to speak Spanish!

Training is done, now the real challenge begins. Wish
me luck!

SDPCA Community Action Work Projects... Another Milestone at San Diego
Friends Center

On April 1st
we had another great work party at the Friends Center!
Friendly spirits and willing attitudes combined with
beautiful skies to create a lot of accomplishment toward
completing the Friends Center. We worked
on the recycled concrete retaining wall for the parking
area, and also did a lot of work digging the drainage
ditch around the perimeter of the slab. This slab will
hold drainage plumbing carrying rain from the roof and
surrounding grounds. We had a great time and are
proud of our work!

But now we
need your help more than ever! All
of the steel for framing the building is arriving the
week of April 17th and that means a lot of work is ready
to start! The company donating the steel has shipped
35,000 lbs. of 18 gage steel instead of the 29,000 lbs.
that had been requested. This is great news because
now there is a big credit with the stud/track manufacturers
in case more product is needed in the future than was
anticipated or if the steel mill delivers some of the
other gages short of our order.

This is an
exciting step and something we’ve been
waiting for so that we could pick up our work on the
actual building again. If you haven’t had
a chance to check out the center’s website to learn
more about the innovative, earth-friendly construction
of this building please take a moment to do so (www.SanDiegoFriendsCenter.org). This
is truly a very unique project and we’d love for
you to get involved because there’s more to be
done! (See the details on page 4.)

See you on
May 20!

–Lisa
Rivera, Ukraine, 2002-04

SDPCA Gone
Wild...

...at the Wild
Animal Park

Sumatran and White Tigers, and Rhinos (above); Gorillas
and The Elephant Zone (below) were all enjoyed
and remarkable. How
close you can get to the animals there is truly amazing
and well worth the trip! [Photos
by Rudy Sovinee]

More Photosfrom
Crisis Corps Work
in Thailand

Here are some photos of the playground we built
in Thailand! Please share with the newsletter. Thanks,
Katherine Melcher!

Fundraising
Summary

This year
we sold Entertainment Books and the Peace Corps Calendars.
We made approximately $1,200.00 from selling the Entertainment
Books. We sold 225 out
of the 300, 2006 Peace Corps Calendars. The extra calendars
were donated to the San Diego County Board of Education. We
made approximately $900.00 from the Calendars. All
the Entertainment Books and Calendars profits will fund
San Diego area resident volunteers serving in various
countries.

During the
Annual Meeting/Potluck, we will have raffle to raise
funds for internal San Diego Peace Corps Associations
expenses. To name a few, prizes you could win are: Tickets
to Sea World, Zoo, Bonita Golf Course, La Jolla Playhouse,
Aerospace Museum, Rueben H. Fleet Science Center, and
gift certificates for a full body massage and Acapulco
Restaurant.

Finally, there
will be a San Diego Peace Corps Association Happy Hour
on Thursday, May 18 at Acapulco Restaurant, 2467 Juan
Street, San Diego, CA 92110. Our Association
earns a small percentage from food sales during this
activity.

–Sean
Anderson, Fundraising Chair, Romania, 2002-04

Letters to
the Editor

Dear SDPCA,

Thank
you for the notification of the grant awards! It is
great to see know the PCV’s and their communities
will be receiving grants from the SDPCA.

Thank you again,

Karen Fjeld,Office
of Private Sector Initiatives
Peace
Corps

===================

Dear Rudy, Gregg, and SDPCA:

Thank
you for your help to the Indian Church Government School.
The community looks forward to beginning the rainwater
collection system and appreciates your efforts to make
the project happen. Thank you again; I’m
proud to be a San Diegan

Sincerely,

Greg Szalay, PCV, Belize

===================

Dear SDPCA:

THANK YOU so much for thinking of us and the Young Heroes
program we are working with in Swaziland.

We are currently assisting Young Heroes by registering
and verifying AIDS orphans in our region. It is a bit
of a long and arduous process, and as a result we currently
only have two families in Lomahasha on the web site.
But there are many others that need help.

And,
I am on the brink of finishing up the registration
and photos for 32 more orphans in our region! They
should be up on the site within the next month. Slowly
but surely, we will get all of Swaziland’s orphans
registered to the site.

Thank you for promoting it. All donations go directly
through NERCHA, the Swaziland National Emergency Council
on HIV and AIDS. We are just players helping to get the
children recognized and registered.

It
is in the shelter of each other that people must
live.
—Irish
Proverb

From the President...

Now
is Your Chance!

May is almost
here and it is time yet again for Board elections!
If you have entertained the thought, now is your chance!
Our organization has made some great strides within
the past year and I am so proud of everyone who has
committed their time and energy to SDPCA. Some
of the accomplishments I would like to share with you:

Regular
community service events helping
the Peace Resource Center construct their new facility. Also
a great opportunity for Nominees to chat with RPCVs
about their Peace Corps experiences while working
side-by-side (Third Goal!).

Transition
to electronic and paper-only newsletter. We
will save trees and save on bulk mail permits, allowing
some financial flexibility for things like increased
grant proposals and special events.

45th
Anniversary Concert in partnership with
the Los Angeles Recruiting Office and the San
Diego Ghanaian Association. LARO’s financial
contribution and the collaboration between the three
organizations resulted in a successful event, with
seed money to pursue future, like events.

There are
so many more to name, but I have to leave some suspense
for the May Annual Meeting! I do, however, want to
thank Lynn, Don, and Liz for their fabulous continued
efforts on the membership database, website, and newsletter,
respectively. These are often “behind the
scenes” contributions, but the continued effort
and diligence is vital to our organization and much appreciated!

I look forward to seeing you at the May Annual Meeting,
and I look forward to seeing some of you on the 2006-2007
Board!

Financial Report: Gregg passed out
financial reports and called attention to the difference
in Ebook earnings. Deposits were made but it is difficult
to discern who made the deposits and to what the deposits
should be credited. Gregg is in the process of creating
a year-end report.

The bulk mail account is set to expire. Motion made
not to renew; motion passed. SDPCA will discontinue use
of bulk mail. Returned mail fee and bulk mail refunds
need to be given back to SDPCA.

ISFs award money has been sent out.

NPCA is sending the membership reimbursement monthly
now.

Membership: Lynn reported that the
SDPCA membership is at 116, with 48 past due, 24 (soon
to be 13) free members, and 80 current NPCA members.

Lynn will email or call people who are past due or almost
past due. Don will work on the database and export emails
for membership list for Lynn.

Community Action: Lisa noted that the
last work party on 4/1 at the Peace Resource Center went
well. Hal Brody is expecting there to be more work for
volunteers.

Don suggested searching for lunch sponsors for the work
party events.

Fundraising: Sean sent letters out
for raffle donations. Sean added Adventure 16, REI, and
Le Travel Store. Sean will send a letter out for Board
to use. The Board will also seek out donations for raffle
and silent auction.

Sean, Lisa, Chris, and Sira will be on the committee
to create a logo for SDPCA t-shirts. Committee will try
to have at least 20 t-shirts to sell at the annual meeting.

Global Awards: There were four project
proposals submitted with five people on the Review Committee.
Leading program was for a library in Azerbaijan for $500,
$357 is to go to a water/rain collection project in Belize,
and $486 to an environmental project for Costa Rica.
SDPCA budget is enough for all three projects. Motion
made to approve awards, motion passed.

Rudy made a motion that the domestic Global Awareness
Award to the IRC be authorized, motion passed.

Communications: Newsletter
submissions are due on the 10th. Sean has voicemail
duty for April.

Marjory is waiting for the extra keys to the PO Box
from Donna Carter. Marjory also checked to see if SDPCA
received the refund from the canceled bulk mail account.

Rudy will make sure that the domain registrar offering
POP3 email at ten email addresses per year for $20 will
work in terms of handling the email for SDPCA before
recommending to the Board.

Social: Activities are covered
in newsletter stories & events.

Speaker’s
Bureau: Next panel
discussion on May 4th will be on Teaching in the Peace
Corps.

Old Business: Paper newsletter will
be sent out to current paid members only. Don will work
with Lynn on an email containing a link to the pdf. version
to be sent to members. Lynn also noted that Brenda should
have something on her sign-in sheets at the annual meeting
asking members about their newsletter preference.

Newsletter: Newsletters
will be mailed out to paying members and newly returned
RPCVs will have one year free. There will be no more
complimentary newsletters. Everything will be sent
out first-class. Members must send in a request to
receive the newsletter either electronically or paper
form. Requests must be made to Communications.

On the enrollment form, there will be a check box if
members want to receive the newsletter hard copy or electronically.
Don will update the form.

New Business: Don
has updated links on the website and has added different
sections. Don also asked about SDPCA submissions to
NPCA for newsletter and web page awards, and if there
were any news.

Next Meeting: 6:30
PM, 5/3/06, Potluck; Lisa Rivera’s clubhouse.

–Sira
Perez, Secretary, Kazakhstan, 2001-2002.

The
evils of government are directly proportional to the
tolerance of the people.—Frank Kent(Journalist
in 1920's through 1950's, remembered as one of first
daily political columnists.)

Alliance for African AssistanceThe
Alliance for African Assistance offers translation
and interpretation services for free to refugees. The
program also hires (preferably refugees) to translate
and provide training if needed. We are able to pay
$20.00 per hour and up for their services on an on-call
basis. Currently, I’m trying to network to promote the
program in order to gather more interpreters/translators,
develop clients who work with refugees, and develop business
clientele. Please let me know anyone that might be interested
in being a translator/interpreter in any language. In
addition, if anyone knows any programs available to refugees,
the office would be happy to collaborate with anyone.
Finally, there are many volunteer opportunities available
at the office to anyone that is interested. Thank you
for your assistance!

From
the International Calendar:

Recipe for
April – Tunisia

For each month
of the International Calendar, there is a recipe
corresponding to the country pictured. The
recipe below is for the month of April, from
Tunisia. To
download a file with recipes for all twelve months,
go to: http://www.rpcvmadison.org/2006%20Recipes.doc

Salata
Mishwiyya – Grilled SaladThe ingredients
for this salad, the New World tomatoes and peppers
have been introduced by the Spanish, are all grilled,
then tossed together. It is a very popular
salad throughout the country, and one is likely to
encounter it many times in travels to Tunisia.

Ingredients:

½ pound ripe but
firm tomatoes

2 green bell peppers
(about ¾ pound)

4 fresh red chili peppers
(about ½ pound)

1 medium size onion,
peeled and quartered

2 garlic cloves, peeled

4 ½ caraway seeds

¾ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoon extra virgin
olive oil

1 tablespoon freshly
squeezed lemon juice

24 imported black olives,
pitted or whole

1 3½ - oz can
tuna in olive oil drained and flaked apart

2 hard-boiled eggs, shelled
and quartered

Directions:Prepare a hot charcoal fire or preheat
a gas grill on high for 20 minutes. Grill
the tomatoes, peppers, and onion until all have
blackened and blistered peels or black grid marks,
about 15 minutes for the smaller pepper and tomatoes,
and about 20-25 minutes for the bell peppers and
the onion.

Peel and seed the grilled
vegetables, cut them up, and place in a food
processor. Process with 4 or 5 short pulses
and transfer to a medium size bowl.

Pound the garlic, caraway
seeds, and salt together in a mortar with a pestle
until almost a paste, then stir into the grilled
vegetables. Arrange on a platter, drizzle
with olive oil and lemon juice, and garnish with
olives, pieces of tuna, and quartered eggs.

–from Don Beck,
Bolivia (1967-69)

Welcome New Members!

SDPCA extends a warm welcome to our newest members.
We’ve seen smoe of you at events already and we
want all of you to get involved in our activities. Let
us hear from you!

Kyra Ann Thompson, Zambia (2003-2005),
Community Health Educator

Jennifer Nelson, Niger (1995-1997),
Health/Nutrition

Dena Lewerke, Armenia (2003-2005),
Business Ed & Community Development

Annette Daoud, Morocco (1987-1989),
TEFL Teacher

Greg Carlson, St. Lucia (2003-2005),
IT, Small Business Development, Beekeeping

Richard Chmielewski, Jamaica (2003-2005),
Water Quality

–Lynn Jarrett, Ukraine
(2001-2003)

Recruiter's
Corner

If you are
reading this by Thursday, May 4th then please consider
attending the current panel discussion at the Peace
Resource Center. If you have friends who you know are
considering the Peace Corps, this is one of their best
opportunities to hear and see how service is similar
to what you’ve said in your stories over the years
- despite being in various parts of the world. There
are reasons RPCV’s should attend too.

Some of you
may be encouraged to be a future panelist by hearing
the teachers who are speaking on May 4th. It is a great
experience for any RPCV - to again be at the center
of attention of a large group of people eager to hear
your stories of Peace Corps service. There will likely
be a very large number of nominees in attendance due
to there being over 50 San Diego area nominees and
invitees now poised to depart for training by the middle
of July. The session starts at 6:30 PM. It is accompanied
by a digital slideshow of images from around the world.

If
you’d like to contribute photos, please email
them to The next panel will
be in mid-summer and will feature volunteers who’ve
served in the InterAmerica and Pacific region.–Rudy Sovinee, Ghana 1970-73

Newsletter
Credits

Pacific
Waves is published six times a year by the San Diego PeaceCorps Association
which is fully responsible for its content. Except for copyrighted material,
articles may be reprinted without permission with credit to the SDPCA.